Knowing your Plant Families might seem like botanical trivia, but it’s actually a powerful tool that can significantly enhance your gardening skills and plant knowledge. Understanding plant families offers practical advantages, making plant identification, seed saving, and even germination techniques much more intuitive. Let’s explore why learning about plant families is beneficial for every gardener.
One of the most immediate benefits is that plant families aid in plant identification. When faced with an unfamiliar plant, recognizing family traits can drastically narrow down your search. If you observe characteristics common to a particular family, you can focus your identification efforts more efficiently. For example, if you notice a plant with daisy-like flowers, considering the Asteraceae family (also known as Compositae) is a great starting point. This family is known for its composite flower heads, which are actually clusters of many small flowers.
Furthermore, plant families provide clues about what a plant is likely to look like. Families often share distinctive visual characteristics. Think about the Campanulaceae family, commonly known as the bellflower family. Members of this family frequently exhibit blue, bell-shaped, or star-shaped flowers. Recognizing this family trait can help you anticipate the appearance of related plants, even if you’ve never seen them before. This is especially helpful when sourcing seeds from natural habitats, where often only the family name is provided.
Plant families are also invaluable when it comes to finding and identifying seeds. Certain families have characteristic seed pod structures. For instance, plants in the Brassicaceae family, like cabbages and mustards, typically have seed pods with a thin, papery membrane separating two halves, much like the honesty plant. In contrast, members of the Lamiaceae family, such as mints and sages, don’t have seed pods in the traditional sense. Instead, they develop four seeds nestled at the bottom of the open calyx. The Fabaceae family (formerly Leguminosae), which includes peas and beans, is easily recognized by its legumes – seeds contained within pods.
Knowing the plant family can even indicate where to locate the seed pod on the flower. This relates to ovary position. Some families, like Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis family) and Cannaceae (canna lily family), have an inferior ovary, meaning the seed pod develops on the stalk side of the flower. Others, such as Nyctaginaceae (four-o’clock family), Geraniaceae (geranium family), and Iridaceae (iris family), possess a superior ovary, where the seed pod is positioned in the middle of the flower.
Furthermore, plant families can often predict what the seeds themselves will be like. You can often infer whether seeds will be large or small, and whether a seed pod will contain many seeds or just a few. For example, Campanulaceae family members usually have capsules containing numerous small seeds. Asclepiadaceae (milkweed family) seeds are typically flat and oval, equipped with distinctive silky hairs for wind dispersal. Plants in the Solanaceae family, like tomatoes and peppers, produce either berries or capsules, both containing multiple seeds.
Understanding plant families can also provide valuable insights into seed germination. Knowing a plant’s family can give you clues about successful germination techniques based on the common practices for other family members. For instance, scarifying seeds and indoor sowing using the Norman Deno method has been effective for many Geraniaceae family members and also for Liliaceae (lily family). However, Iridaceae family seeds often require outdoor sowing and a longer germination period, reflecting family-specific dormancy patterns.
Finally, plant families can even help you recognize seedlings. A fundamental distinction in seedling development lies between monocots and dicots, broad categories encompassing numerous plant families. Monocot families, including Liliaceae, Iridaceae, grasses, and palms, are characterized by seedlings emerging with a single seed leaf. In contrast, dicots, which represent the majority of larger plant families, produce seedlings with two seed leaves. Recognizing this difference is a basic yet crucial step in early plant identification.
While there are hundreds of plant families, and botanists are continuously refining plant classifications, grasping the concept of plant families provides a foundational framework for deepening your botanical knowledge and becoming a more informed and successful gardener. Exploring the main plant families is an exciting journey into the fascinating world of botany and plant diversity.
